Fourze/Form Change
Form Change Fourze '''is a character that can be played in a number of different ways depending on how you decide to prepare him for the match. He can take in a custom loadout of Astroswitches, giving him very varied (albeit gimmicky) offensive and defensive tools, or he can take in one of his transformation switches, allowing him to play as either Elek States of Fire States. Astroswitches Fourze's Astroswitches determine his special moves. By default, the four Astroswitches Fourze can use are Rocket, Launcher, Drill and Radar. He is able to take a custom loadout of four Astroswitches on top of his base four, allowing for a total of eight Astroswitches, which can be interchanged throughout the battle. Fourze can also choose to trade custom Astroswitch loadouts for extra forms, namely '''Elek States '''and '''Fire States. For the purposes of this guide, only Elek States will be discussed, as it is the most viable of Fourze's alternate forms in Form Change. Notable Astroswitches First, the base four Astroswitches and their effects. Rocket: 'Charges the opponent with his rocket arm. Upon contact, Fourze will slam the opponent into the ground for a knockdown. '''Launcher: '''Fires a barrage of miniature rockets towards the opponent. Normally spreads out as it travels further, but when equipped alongside the Radar Switch*, rockets will home in towards opponent. '''Drill: '''Fourze comes down on the opponent with a Rider Kick using the Drill switch. Basically just a standard SCH divekick. '''Radar: '''Is actually a counter! While Fourze is holding out the radar, any attack that makes contact with him will automatically cause him to sidestep, escaping his opponent's pressure. Becomes active very quickly so can be useful to mash in blockstrings. ''*It is unknown how many other combinations of Astroswitches allow for varied effects Fourze has a lot of custom Astroswitches to choose from, and it can be a little confusing trying to pick a set. Luckily, we've got a list of the best custom Astroswitches for you to choose from! '''Magic Hand 5: '''reaches out with an extendo-arm and throws the opponent up into the air. Is completely unblockable, and one of the few attacks in the game that causes a truly untechable knockdown! '''Scoop 29: '''throws a whole bunch of dirt at the opponent, causing them to be trapped on hit. Using Scoop while the opponent is trapped will cause a regular knockdown. Useful for some combo extensions (particularly his CT loop), but also functions as a very strong wakeup meaty, as it does a significant amount of guard damage. '''Hand 28: '''Reaches out with an extendo-arm from his foot and slams the opponent into the ground. Functionally identical to Magic Hand. '''Net 38: '''Fourze does a flipkick and causes an energy net to fall from the sky and catch the opponent no matter where they are! Is blockable, but can be combo'd into even on airborne opponent, causing a restand and allowing you to follow up with a grounded combo. Useful combo extension, as well as a good way to catch people off-guard in neutral. '''Camera 6: '''Fourze reaches out to the opponent with his grab animation. If it connects, the opponent gets their photo taken, which (somehow) deals a small amount of damage to them and causes them to fall to the ground. It's a command grab! You can also combo into it! Hard to say if it can grab people in blockstun, since blockstun barely exists in this game. '''Shield 18: '''Fourze holds out his shield. It's another counter! Just like Radar, it becomes active very quickly and stays active for a long time, except now it does damage and causes a knockdown! Another useful tool on the defensive. Command List Rider Art '''Base States (Custom Astroswitch): '''Flight. Press and hold RA to fly with the Gyro switch. Drains meter while flying. Gains access to special flight mode attacks, including an unblockable projectile that causes a cutscene attack. '''Base States (Elek Switch): '''An alternate form of Super Jump. Press and hold RA to hop around with the Hopping switch. While hopping, the pogo stick on Fourze's foot has a hitbox, which causes an unblockable cutscene attack to play if it makes contact with the opponent. Hopping is very hard to control, though, so good luck actually hitting anyone with the unblockable. '''Elek States: '''Super Jump. Dash Action '''Base States: '''Air Dash '''Elek States: '''Guard Dash Special Moves For Base States, see "Notable Astroswitches" above. '''Elek States Special Moves n.S: '''Fourze takes a small step forward and swings downward with his sword, making the screen temporarily freeze win the blade makes contact. Causes crumple stun on hit. A staple combo part. '''f_b+S: '''Fourze swings his sword and fires an electric projectile that travels directly forward. Both the sword swing and the projectile have hitboxes. Easily avoided, but still a useful move to have. '''u_d+S: '''Fourze points his sword towards the ground and creates a pillar of electricity slightly in front of him. Knocks down on hit, but is most useful as a wakeup meaty: has lots of active frames, does a lot of guard damage (almost 1/3) and the circular area of effect means that it will beat wakeup sidestep! '''j.S: '''See Drill Switch in the "Notable Astroswitches" section above. Notable Normals and Strings '''Base States d+LHHH: '''Fourze takes a small step forward and delivers a hook punch, then follows up with a gut punch and a launching punch with Rocket that sends both him and his opponent into the air, then kicking them away. Staple combo string. '''f+HH: '''Fourze takes a moderate step forward and punches the opponent in the gut before shoulder tackling them, causing a knockdown. Notable for the pretty decent reach on f+H, though it's fairly slow. '''Elek States LH: '''Fourze jabs the opponent before smacking them into the ground with his sword, causing a knockdown. While the jab has short range, it's actually quite fast, making it useful in checking your opponent's defense. '''f+LLL: '''Fourze takes a step forward and lunges with the sword, then follows up with two hits that knock the opponent away. f+L has pretty decent range, making it useful as a poke. '''d+LH: '''A two-hit launching string. RC to follow up with a special move. Staple combo string. '''HHH: '''a three hit series of downward swings that knock the opponent into the ground. H has a decent amount of active frames, making it useful as a meaty if timed properly. Otherwise, good combo filler. '''f+HH: '''Fourze lunges forward (further than f+L) and then knocks the opponent down with an upward swing. Even better poking tool than f+L. Strategy '''Base States What kind of strategy you use depends on what Astroswitches you've taken with you. Common switch combinations include: Magic Hand + Net: 'Comboing into Net allows you to create an inescapable unblockable setup with Magic Hand, allowing you a knockdown and forcing a mixup on your opponent. '''Scoop + Net: '''Allows for the CT loop. Both switches on their own also allow you to play a fairly decent ranged game. Whether or not you take Camera or Shield is up to your playstyle. Camera gives you a safe guaranteed knockdown from almost any grounded combo (and is disrespectful as hell), while Shield gives you a useful extra defensive tool. Combos '''CT Loop: 'RC Scoop, NetxN d+LHH RC Net, follow-up of your choice Any RC into Camera '''Elek States Elek States wants to use his normals to bully the opponent into making a mistake so that he can knock them down. Use d+S as a wakeup meaty when you can, or even in blockstrings, just make sure it's spaced so that it's more difficult to punish. You're able to play a good neutral game with your long-range normals and your projectile, so take advantage of those tools. Combos Basically confirm every string into n.S. It's also a good ender if your opponent is airborne. If confirming on a grounded opponent, follow-up with either another n.S or HHH.